Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto says earlier claims attributed to him that a bunch of plantain costs as low as GH₵3 was taken out of context.
According to him, he rather referenced two years ago and not this year when he stated that he bought a bunch of plantain at GH₵3 on the Ghanaian market thereby signifying that food prices have reduced drastically.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto at a press briefing last month said food prices in the markets are at an all-time low, compared to 4 years ago when a bunch of plantains could be bought for ¢40.
The Minister attributed what he described as the drastic drop in food prices to the successes chalked by the planting for food and jobs programme.
That comment incurred the wrath of the populace with various stakeholders insisting those claims could not be accurate.
But at a media engagement in Parliament today, Thursday, May 28, 2020, Dr. Afriyie Akoto said his comment was misconstrued.
“I was taken totally out of context and I am not prepared to go back there. If you look at the records, two years ago plantain was so low, nobody can deny that. We are are the ones who keep statistics of prices in the market.”
“We have over 300 officials of the ministry in all the major markets in the country and we have the record and I can show you that at one point a bunch of plantain was indeed 4 cedis here in Accra but I was taken out of context and I am not ready to go on a wild goose chase,” Dr. Afriyie Akoto said.